Survival Hunter PvE Guide — Midnight

by Fouren

Updated 2 day ago

7 minutes readmin

669 views

About the Class

Survival Hunter is a mid-range fighter who wields two-handed weapons (polearms, staves, swords). In combat they use various bombs and volleys to deal damage. Despite the class being a hunter, it prefers to deal damage at mid/close range.

Strengths

Decent and consistent damage both in single target and in AoE.
Simple rotation that lets you quickly grasp the class's specifics and show good results.
Good survivability thanks to abilities that reduce incoming damage.

Weaknesses

A small number of abilities, which heavily limits the rotation. The class may look boring to some players.
Requires being in melee/mid-range combat, which can cause difficulties for some players.
Few abilities that control enemy groups and few abilities that help the group.

Stat Priority

Hunter Survival Stats Priority

Agility

Mastery

Critical Strike

Haste

Versatility

Talents

Hunter Survival Mythic+ Build

No talent data

Rotation

Hunter Survival Opener

Hunter Survival Abilities Priority

Single Target

Howl of the Pack Leader — If you have no more than 1 stack of Spearhead and it's available, use Kill Command
Sic 'Em — You should enter it with no Spearhead stacks and dump all Spearhead stacks right before the cooldown comes back
Wildfire Bomb — on cooldown
Explosive Shot — on cooldown
Raptor Strike — If it's Mongoose Bite, you must have Spearhead. Otherwise Spearhead doesn't matter. Every other Raptor Strike is Mongoose Bite
Wildfire Bomb — on cooldown
Kill Command
Sic 'Em

AoE

Howl of the Pack Leader — If you have no more than 1 stack of Spearhead and it's available, use Kill Command
Sic 'Em — You want to enter it with at least 2 stacks of Spearhead, and you should use Kill Command to prepare for it right before activation
Wildfire Bomb — If you're about to have 2 charges, use it
Explosive Shot — on cooldown
Wildfire Bomb — on cooldown
Raptor Strike — If it's Mongoose Bite, you must have Spearhead. Otherwise Spearhead doesn't matter. Every other Raptor Strike is Mongoose Bite
Wildfire Bomb — on cooldown
Kill Command
Wildfire Bomb — on cooldown as a very low-priority filler. They can be used without Spearhead, but remember that this is only relevant if you truly can't use anything else, not even Kill Command
Sic 'Em

Best in Slot (BiS)

Don't forget to explore our class pages, where not only the best items in the slot are available, but also other alternatives for any class, spec or situation:

Hunter: Gear

Two-Hand Weapon

Warden's Branch of the Nest

Head

Maw of the Primal Sentinel

Neck

Rotcap's Sporeheart

Shoulders

Dread Epaulets of the Null-Strider

Back

Warm Cloak of Stiff Scales

Chest

Scaled Breastplate of the Primal Sentinel

Wrists

Strider's Plated Bracers

Hands

Talons of the Primal Sentinel

Waist

Warbelt of the Fel Curse

Legs

Legguards of the Primal Sentinel

Feet

Swiftsteps of the Primal Sentinel

Ring

Lightless Absence

Ring

Void-Shadowed Band

Trinket

Algeth'ar Puzzle Box

Trinket

Gaze of the Aln Seer

Enchants, Gems, Consumables

Enchants

Weapon

Enchant Weapon - Arcane Craftsmanship

Head

Enchant Helm - Fortified Rune of Avoidance

Shoulders

Enchant Shoulder - Grace of the Mother Tree

Chest

Enchant Chest - Mark of the World Soul

Wrists

Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance

Legs

Forest Hunter's Armor Kit

Feet

Enchant Boots - Scout's March

Ring

Enchant Ring - Radiant Mastery

Gems

Leveling

From the very first level you will already have abilities to deal damage. The main abilities in the early levels will be Raptor Strike, Kill Command and Wildfire Bomb. As you level up, you will gain new abilities, getting closer to the main rotation. We recommend sticking to the following ability priority as they become available:

Mythic+ Tips

Be sure to use Misdirection on the tank before dealing damage, or in case the tank asks you to redirect threat from a group of monsters onto them (for example, pulling mobs far from the tank, or in case someone in the group did it by accident and the tank has no way to pull threat back onto themselves at that moment).

Feign Death lets you drop aggro from mobs in case you accidentally touched an extra group. This ability also lets you shed a large number of targeted mob and boss abilities.

Use Camouflage if you need to slip past a group of enemies. This ability grants you full invisibility.

The abilities Exhilaration and Survival of the Fittest also work on summoned pets. Use them if you need to protect or restore your pets' health.

Macros

Misdirection on Pet

#showtooltip Misdirection
/cast [@pet] Misdirection

Focus Interrupt

#showtooltip Counter Shot
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Counter Shot

Intimidation on Cursor

#showtooltip Intimidation
/petattack
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][]Intimidation

Author

Fouren

Fouren has been playing World of Warcraft for over 15 years. He is an active player with 12 Cutting Edge achievements under his belt, and has reached the top 1% and 0.1% multiple times on various classes. His main classes are healers, particularly Holy Paladin.